333131133
by Batman Lamp-Writer
Summary: The people of Amity Park call them ghosts, but there's no such thing. I should know, they're my friends, my Family... and myself. So, I'll explain these 'ghouls' to you, the Andonaide. It all begins in ARES....


A/N: Okay, story I got obsessed with after thinking of it because of a random stream of numbers I came up with on my way to choir. Heh, weird, I know. ; Anywayz, here's 333131133!!! Yay, numbers!! Speaking of which, NUMB3RS is on in a hour and a half, yay!

Okay, randomness done! Here!

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Prologue: Called

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**BEGIN TRANSMISSION**

I'm beginning to regret this, but hopefully once this story is told properly, she'll forgive me for not explaining at once. I didn't know… I didn't know _this_ would happen. I never wanted something of this magnitude to happen to her….

You must be wondering who "I" and "she" are. The "she" will come up later, but "I" am me, Phantom. Also known as 333131133 to those Above me, most specifically One. However, those here know me as simply "Danny".

This story, as I shall tell it from the beginning, is the story of how I and my Family came to be here, and what idiocy we went through to get into our current situation. When I get to it, there should optimistically be a good turn out to this situation. But first, I must tell about our coming to Am—the Home World. It starts with ARES… and my "Family", group 333….

Ever since those of us in group 333 were very young, we've been taught all about the humans' history. We knew of the World Wars and the Fight which caused us to be necessary. We knew of past Andonaide, of Those that Failed and Those that Succeeded. We were taught to want to succeed. We were taught our superiority to humans. But over all, we were taught one thing: Your group is your Family. Care _only_ for your Family.

Thus, inter-group rivalries were encouraged. Our Olders knew of the foolishness of it, but the Youngers enjoyed the time of play. No matter how one looked at it, we were trained since youth to be warriors and to care only for our Family. We were raised in a very Machiavellian way. We all fell to that at times, but none more so than Plasmius, Shadow, Ember, and I. Our largest joy came from pranking our Youngers, and our pride from defeating our Olders in battle.

Then, we were Called. Every group is Called at some point, but I had thought our turn would come much later. After all, it was the Older Groups who were Called, not lowly teens in their prime training years. When we were told that we did not need the regular training, we didn't realize it was because we were superior to other groups, we saw it as a special training. So we gladly accepted.

Thus were we sent into the humans' world, the Home World.

But, there was another reason why being Called surprised us. Earlier that morning, I had—

Well, it would be easier to show you, wouldn't it?

I had heard of the commotion in the Rec, but I didn't know _why_. So, when BG came running up to me, yelling about how the 313 Older had called Ember a particularly nasty name, I got mad. Though, mad's quite an understatement. I ran off to the Rec with BG just barely keeping up.

When I opened the doors, everyone looked at me before backing away. They knew I was angry and allowed me to pass straight to where 313333311 was standing, knowing full well of my past history. He smirked at me, ignoring my reputation, but my first punch wiped his face of it… and a few teeth. We quickly were having a full-out brawl, and the guard near the door was getting nervous. I heard him speak into his radio.

"Sir, we've got a problem," he said nervously. "_He's_ acting up again."

I smiled, knowing it was me they were talking about. To them, I was more than just 333131133, more than just a Number. Because of the constant fights I was in, and the consequent punishments, I was known throughout the Syndicate.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as guards surrounded the whole area. It was amusing how those of us in 333 had to be outnumbered five plus to one in order to be Turned Off, though I _was_ surprised that they didn't just attack like they normally did. They stood and watched.

I continued to fight, not caring. The Older in front of me was leaking his Life-fluid, a greenish-red liquid, everywhere. I would've dealt the final blow, but the guards decided to attack me at that moment. I felt one grab my arms as another kicked behind my knees, causing me to collapse. I laughed and jumped back up, head-butting the one holding my arms. He let go, holding a bloody nose as I sweeped the others' legs from under them. They shouted commands to each other, panicking that I was still On. I didn't notice one sneak behind me until my arms had been pulled back and up and crossed, held in one hand at the wrists. The same person then knocked me onto my knees, keeping me down by standing on my feet. I laughed again, twisting and tilting my head backwards to look up and sideways at the guard. It was one of the veterans, a Grey. He glared at me as I stated with a chuckle, "Newbies are so boring, aren't they?" Then, he grabbed my hair, forcing my head forward as I continued to laugh. I heard his scanner turn on before muttering, "G'night," and seeing only the Blackness that came with being Turned Off. I thought only, _I'm losing my touch. **Grey** took me down in no time…._

Clockwork, our Older, was kind enough to Turn me On again for lunch. "After all," he said, "you _are_ Family, and my Family does not go hungry."

Unfortunately, as I followed him to Mess, a guard stopped us, telling me I had to go to Punishment. Clocky nodded, and I assured him with another chuckle that I'd be fine. Just moments after, group 333 was Called.

Ember told me what happened, so I'll try to retell it. One noticed immediately that I was missing. He smirked and asked where I was.

CW replied instantaneously, "You already know, our Leader." One smiled broadly.

"Yes, I do... I have a mission for you, group 333. This mission requires you go undercover in the Home World."

"As what, One?"

"_Humans_. You shall also be required to split your Family for the duration of the mission."

"_What!_" Desiree cried, outraged.

"As a part of your cover, you must."

"But, Sir!"

"Do you want the mission?"

Silence.

"Good. Now, you shall go to the school called Casper High. You must infiltrate and find these items." He handed CW a piece of paper, a list. "And I also have a special mission for 333131133."

"He has a Name," Kitty said, speaking up. "We all do."

"This I know, but I do not have time to memorize thousands of worthless Names."

"You call _us_ worthless," Frostbite said calmly, "yet you tell us that humans are. You are human, as well."

"But I created you. I can just as easily destroy you. This is for 333131133. His eyes only." He handed an envelope to Ember, saying quietly, "I trust you'll get it to him?"

She nodded angrily, and they were Dismissed.

As I heard footsteps approach, I sat up in bed, instantly recognizing them as those of my Family. They entered our Stay, and Ember, Shadow, and Kitty ran straight to me. They froze when they saw I was leaking.

"You dolt," Ember said in a near whisper, "why didn't you bandage this?"

"Someone moved the dressings. I couldn't find them."

"CW! We need some bandages!" Kitty called to our Older. He brought the supplies necessary back momentarily, and the rest of our Family crowded around. None of us wanted something to go unseen when Repairing a member of our Family. Spectra bandaged my leg carefully, then Wulf and Skulker helped me off my bed so Dora could change the dirty sheets.

"Thanks. You didn't have to," I mumbled, embarrassed to be held up by both of them.

"Phantom, you're our Family. We don't care," LL replied.

"So, what took you? Lunch was over an hour ago. I was worried."

"We were Called, Phantom," Ember said, passing me the papers. "We have a mission, and a special one _just for you_."

I nodded, flipping through the list. "Why does One want this stuff?"

"We'll know later, Phantom. Now, c'mon, let's play some games before dinner."

We were given our human names the next day. We had a few weeks to get used to them, the first of which Ember, named Emelline, moped for until we agreed to call her Em. We were all very confused the first few days, but everyone quickly caught on with a mental push from me. Plasmius, Shadow, and I had the three easiest names. Plasmius was Vlad, Shadow Johnny, and I Danny. Spectra was also easy to remember; her name was Sri. Kitty became Kathreine, Dora Duane, Aragon Aric, Youngblood Yantis, BG Bojan, Wulf Wolfram, Walker Waldhar, Technus Teivel, Skulker Sieghild, LL Lunette, Frostbite Frodo, Desiree Djamila, and CW Xihuitl. Once we found out our names, we quickly made nicknames for each other to remember easier. We decided to only call each other by those nicknames even though we were still at Syndicate.

For the last two weeks before we left, we completely ignored all other groups. To us, our Family was the only one that existed. We practiced our Controlls in case of fights, we played with the dogs and cats Wolf and Kat found, Dew created a waterfall in our Stay, Air flew us around, Boj rearranged the terrain for tougher fights, Lune grew trees and flowers throughout our Stay, Sri and Mila helped lessen our depression, Vlad and Gord had fantastic battles of dark and light, and Ember played her music every night.

It was our last night at Syndicate. We all knew. We all hoped it wasn't; that our "mission" was a shared dream among us. Yet we knew it wasn't. We planned to stay up all night long, something that Xi normally didn't approve of. At midnight, a solemn air weighed us down. Silence consumed us as the realization dawned that we'd leave in just a few hours.

I finally couldn't take it. "Em," I whispered, wincing as it seemed to thunder through the Stay and the eyes of my Family fell on me, "play 'Castle on a Cloud' again?"

She smiled, knowing it was my favorite of the songs she knew. After Wal handed her the Shimmering Flute he had Formed, she put her lips to it, playing the haunting, beautifully sad tune. By the end, the girls were crying as Sri hugged them, trying to rid them of their sadness. A couple guys sniffled. We knew the end of the song symbolized the splitting of our Family for this mission, but none of us liked it.

We fell asleep where we were, knowing already what tomorrow would bring us.

**END TRANSMISSION**

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A/N: Mwahaha, beware the new/different format! Uh, anywayz, any guesses on who One is? This prologue contains all clues you'll get (well, mostly, I think) until I reveal him, and I'll be _very_ surprised if someone _does_ get it. I think I hid it well enough…. Anywayz, here's your prologue! If y'all have any ideas, lemme know! And also, seeing as it was probably confusing (according to a lot of my friends who read it), here's the list of everyone's names.

Youngblood- Yantis (Yan)

Aragon- Aric (Air)

Dora- Duane (Dew)

Box Ghost (BG)- Bojan (Boj)

Phantom- Danny (Dan)

Shadow- Johnny (John)

Kitty- Kathreine (Kat)

Wulf- Wolfram (Wolf)

Ember- Emelline (Em)

Walker- Waldhar (Wal)

Technus- Teivel (Tay)

Spectra- Sri

Skulker- Sieghild (Sieg)

Lunch Lady (LL)- Lunette (Lune)

Frostbite- Frodo (Froe)

Desiree- Djamila (Mila)

Ghost Writer (GW)- Gordon (Gord)

Plasmius- Vladimir (Vlad)

Clockwork (CW, Clocky)- Xihuitl (Xi)

Also, just so you don't freak out, seeing as this is AU, I've made everyone, as in, the ghosts in group 333 and Jazz, in their teens. Jazz is fifteen, same age as Danny, Em, Kat, John, Wolf, Sam, Tuck, and Val, who'll be our main fifteen year olds, as well as main characters. So, yeah, BYEZZ, Y'all!

**BTW: If you want to know where I got some of my ideas for the Andonaide, read _Danger Quotient_ and _Anthem_. Totally awesome books, trust me! Though _DQ_ gets kinda confusing with the wacky time stream loops…. Also, the Numbers I've given everyone… let's just say they'll be a main point that the kids at school'll notice….**


End file.
